Kristen VanderHoek | Cursor & Ink

Hi Reader, QUICK REMINDER: Our next Brand Commons expert roundtable on “Back to school, back to sales” is happening Tuesday at 3pm ET / 12pm PT! Link here to register. It's free to join! I’ve been wondering — how do you as a service provider approach Black Friday? This is the time of year where all of the planning really starts to ramp up, so it’s been on my mind. And actually as I think about it, this kind of breaks down into two questions. Do you participate in Black Friday? (As a consumer...

Hi Reader, In addition to planning a wedding, I'm also planning a move. Not a big one (thankfully!), just 10 minutes down the street. But one of my big jobs last week was to get the movers booked for the end of October so I didn't have to worry about it until we're back from the honeymoon. So I dug up the name of the mover I'd used eight years ago, found a few recommended ones on Reddit, and filled in their contact forms. And this was where the brand experience diverged. The two...

Hi Reader, The beginning of September is always a milestone week for me. Yesterday I marked 7 years of self-employment, and today is 20 years (!!!!) since I left Vancouver for what was supposed to be a three-month internship in Canada’s capital. remember paper boarding passes? So to mark the occasion I thought I’d share 7 things I’ve learned since going independent — as a business owner in 2019 and as a human in 2006 🙃. 1 - Your people are out there (so don’t hide yourself from them). They...

Hi Reader, A lot of marketing strategies out there aren’t designed for service providers and experts. It’s for content creators and influencers — people whose content is their product and whose playbook for success is all about scaling and reaching as many people as possible as often as possible. Online marketing advice is often delivered with this 👆👆👆 goal in mind. Because content creators and influencers these days are, essentially, marketers themselves. They’re building for the creator...

Hi Reader, Last week we talked about how saying “no” more often leads to a more focused, differentiated, and discerning brand. But there’s another aspect of saying “no” that matters to your branding, and it has to do with your values. What you say “no” to is a HUGE indicator of where your values lie in your brand and what you truly care about. And when your “no”s are the same as your ideal client’s, you have a powerful point of connection and trust that will naturally attract the right people...

Hi Reader, How comfortable are you with saying “no” in your business? If you’re like a lot of my clients, deciding where to say “yes” and where to say “no” can make you feel… squirmy. Uncertain. Uncomfortable. I’d argue that most of us should be saying “no” a whole lot more than we actually do. Now in theory, it’s a great idea, right? Saying no to the wrong things means more freedom to focus on the right things. Who doesn’t want that? But in practice… it gets a bit trickier. And this is where...

Hi Reader, It always amazes me how many different, creative angles and approaches you can take to brand building. From design to messaging to data and search to automations to relationship management, there are so many levers that you can pull to create a brand experience that amplifies your expertise and creates a solid foundation of trust and authority. This week’s Brand Commons expert roundtable was full of these creative ideas and perspectives, and today I wanted to share a few of the...

Hi Reader, Quick reminder: our next expert roundable is next week! On June 23, join me and 5 brilliant brand and marketing strategists to talk about How to create a brand experience that sells (even when you're not in the room). It’s totally free and is going to be so fun. You can learn more and register here. Seth Godin once defined the term “brand” as “what people say about you when you're not in the room.” It’s true. But to take it one step deeper: what people say about you when you're not...

Hi Reader, Before we get started: Our next Expert Roundtable is on the calendar! On June 23, join me and 5 brilliant brand and marketing strategists to talk about How to create a brand experience that sells (even when you're not in the room). It’s totally free and is going to be so fun. You can learn more and register here. There’s a special kind of exhaustion that comes from working incredibly hard on your business without seeing the needle move. When things stall, our default instinct is to...

Hi Reader, Most of the decisions clients make about whether to work with you happen when you’re not in the room. Someone reads your website at 11pm. A referral looks you up before they reach out. A potential client skims your proposal, your pricing page, your last guest podcast appearance. And all of them form an opinion about what it's like to work with you — without you there to explain, reassure, or fill in the gaps. That’s where your brand comes in. When you’re an expert service provider,...